Paperback Original

by Will Rhode

To claim his late father's fortune, Joshua King must first write a best-selling novel within the next five years, but Joshua would rather spend his life traveling, taking drugs, growing his hair, and enjoying the dirty Delhi flophouse where he is living and where he encounters the mysterious, perhaps mystical Baba, who could prove to be the inspiration for a major bestseller. A first novel. Original. 25,000 first printing.

Genres: Fiction, India

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Berengaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars, DNFed at about 50%

What I can definitely say about "Paperback Raita" is that it is well-written, at times quite funny and the author conjures up the vibe of being a down-and-out European (British) in modern Mumbai with all the grit, stink and poverty very, very well.

It's just that where Rhode chooses to drive the story (hip drug dealers/junkies) doesn't interest me, even though another review mentioned a surprise twist, so I'm jumping ship. Sorry about that, mate! You've got talent. Maybe some other novel...

[Szplug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun but fluffy—apparently they call this stuff Lad-Lit and I can readily understand why—and I cannot quite fathom how this book emerged from the competing brilliance of my collection to have wound up, opened and ready to go, within my hands. Every now and then I really do opt for one doozy of an off-the-cuff and off-the-wall selection.

The writing rarely ascends above the serviceable, especially whenever Rhode is detailing the mental reasonings, reflections and tergiversations of the flawed, but ultimately likable, protagonist—a gangly, insecure expat Brit lad who must pen a bestselling novel featuring his father as a prominent character if the former is to claim the latter's dangling carrot of a £5 million inheritance. However, the workmanlike (but pleasant) prose is countered by Rhode's apt ear for dialogue and talent for breezy humour, the exotic setting in a chaotic modern India, the wealth of native characters, and the uniqueness (if unlikeliness) of the zig-zagging, let's-pull-a-fast-one, p'raps-this-is-my-book meta-plot. Rhode is never going to win himself any prizes, but he can entertain and make the pages fly by, while never allowing any component to cause the whole to drag, let alone come to a crashing halt; and when you get right down to it, I suppose that is a suitably impressive achievement all on its own.

[AKT · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jim: My bladder is firmly holding 1.5 peaks!
Andy: 1.52 peaks. Josh is high or Yasmin has a fat ass.
Eric: 2.2 peaks: Experience is the name people give to their mistakes.
Chad: 1.3 peaks: reconfirmed my conviction to never travel to India.

[Sarah Heilman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did. Bought this years ago in the clearance section of a bookstore somewhere, liked the colorful cover and the blurb was interesting enough to justify the cheap purchase, and I only just got around to reading it. It definitely surprised me.

The main character Josh is rather unlikable, in a refreshingly relatable and realistic way. I myself am very hyper aware of my own inner narrative. I narrate moments of my life just like Josh does: adding this dramatic flourish to otherwise mundane or random scenarios, thinking back on them and trying to make sense of them through storytelling: wishing that I was in some exciting fantasy world rather than laborious reality.

He is average, unmotivated, and a frank mixture of delusional and honest with himself about the fact: wishing he could be a hero, that he could win over the girl, etc. And he had a lot of internal monologues that had me nodding and going "Yup, I feel that.", or had me musing on how meta and self-aware Josh was in a way that I have never seen a character be before.

He was an idiot. The whole plot of this book is so ridiculous, and it was interesting to see a guy like Josh deal with the consequences and realities of his choices driven by greed and ego and desperation.

Rhode writes with that taste of sarcastic British humor, but it isn't so overwhelming as to be too dry to swallow. It was only just dry enough to really fit Josh's personality. He's a guy who knows he's nothing special, and yet has this fantasy of being better and cooler than you, but then he is confronted with real life full of other people who don't follow the script he has imagined in his head and it messes with him. I loved it.

I don't know much about India, but I enjoyed the setting. Looked up plenty of words and places on Google images to help paint the picture as I went. The other characters were as deep as they needed to be. If you're the type of reader that likes to solve the mystery yourself as you read, you'll probably see the ending coming. I just like to let it happen!

I can see how someone might not enjoy this because of the main character's general distastefulness, but it is absolutely on purpose. Josh isn't meant to be a heroic badass character, he is this average dude who knows he is average, but wishes he wasn't, and is struggling to find meaning and a way to make it through the rest of his life as a functional human being.

Glad I finally just grabbed it off my shelf and read it!

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title intrigued me (about a Beatles cover band during their Indian period?) and the initial conceit revealed in the first two pages had me hooked.
The plot lumbered along like an Indian road trip; all hits and misses with wrecks left in the ditches. And then the main characters embark on an actual road trip. On a motorbike. Aptly, an Indian made British bike, echoing the East meets West undercurrent. This cinematic story is delivered ready for the big screen. But that would be giving the ending away.
If you value plot more than thematic suggestion you’ll love this book. It won’t win any prizes, but I do have one question. Has it become a bestseller?

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had this book sitting around for a long time. Years, maybe even a decade. And on a whim without anything else in mind to read, I finally picked it up. And once I did, I couldn't put it down. The story certainly is "Original", and although seemingly far fetched, it was a page turner, and quite entertaining. As a woman, it is always refreshing to read

[Andrea]

I was interested in reading this novel within the first few pages when it revealed that one of the characters had committed suicide with a Viagra overdose. Intrigued with this hilarity, I am enjoying reading about the non-Indian narrator in Mumbai.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun though at times frustrating romp through India by an English expat who hatches a plot to double-cross an international drug dealer to collect material for a potential bestseller.

[Veronica Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found Joshua to be annoying and whiny with little to no character development. However, I think the concept was decent. I'm just particularly short with books about entitled young men.

[Donald · Rating 1 out of 5]

To quote the author, "Who cares?"

[eden chuang · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book felt more like a rant rather than a novel.

[Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

To say that this book is simply about a guy-Josh- whose father dies -viagra overdose- and doesn't leave him any of his millions -because he hasn't earned it- unless he writes a novel that is a best seller -in only 5 years- would be short changing what it's really all about.

Basically Josh decides to try to break opena story on a drug dealer running out of Bollywood. A complete BS lie he makes up for several reasons. 1. To rip an advance out of his boss. 2. To avoid apparant arrest. 3. To impress the sexy Yasim. 4. To tick his friend off. Despite the fact that it's all a lie a whim of Yasims to rip off the big drug dealer sends Josh and the attached charecters into a very crazy and very real experience. In the end Josh not only finds the elusive, thought fake, drug dealer but he also find himself. Awww. Right? Not quite.

To say it's crazy would also be short changing it. I almost set it down once or twice but for some unknown reason I kept reading. it kept me going. To put it lightly I didn't like the main charecter and I was waiting to see him fail. And then something happens. He fails! He fails miserably, his stupid story chasing takes him so low and so down that then I'm reading to see if there is anyway he can get out of.

Then once I'm routing for the plot, not necessarily him, the author pulls a quick one. He gets me to like the guy. For crying out loud. Suddenly his bad decisions, his story chasing, his drug doing- suddenly it is all ok and I just feel, not sorry for him, but I'm definately on his side.

This story is a crazy assortment of twists and turns. Its a genuine mystry since the narrator, Josh (this is first person) admits to even lying to you in the first chapter about a few things. I can't say that its all tied up neatly. But a book I began with curiousity, continued begrudgedly,and then loved to dispise suddenly became a book I just simply like, enjoy it for its own sake.
Crazy. About as crazy as Josh, the main charecter.

It reminds me of one of those movies. You know where the shots are kind of dark and there are so many story lines or charecters you're not sure what is going on but its so intense you need to try and follow it anyway, and then suddenly it all makes sense and you like it, and you even want to make other people watch it, but you dont know why.

that about sums up this book. It's worth it.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up free through bookcrossing and was attracted to it because of the 'India' connection.

The story start with Josh's very wealthy father dying and leaving Josh nothing. he leaves the house and money to Josh's step mum and says that Josh can have £5 million if and when he writes a bestselling novel.

Josh has been dossing around India doing not much except taking drugs and getting hand outs from his father. This was a wake up call and initially sent him spiraling even further downwards as he was furious at his father's actions.

One night he is woken by a young girl, Yasmin banging on his door saying there is a drug raid and her boyfriend was arrested. The boyfriend ends up in jail and Yasmin befriends Josh thinking he would help her.

An old school friend, Sanjay visits Josh and the three of them hatch a plan to track down and con a drug dealer out of a big deal which involves drugs and diamonds. Sanjay knows the man and he is going to introduce Josh while Yasmin goes back to Amsterdam to learn about faking diamonds.

In the middle of the story I began to lose interest as there was a lot of description of drug taking and the seedier side of life. Then Yasmin and Josh end up being more than friends and that I also found a bit sordid and tedious.

I did quite like the descriptions of parts of India and would have liked more of that and less drug taking descriptions.

The characters were quite real and believable but all quite unlikable and self centred.Towards the end the story picked up again and we get snippets of Josh's child hood and this gives us a bit of an insight into why his relationship with his father was strained and why he went off the rails. I began to feel a bit more sympathy towards Josh.

The end is quite a tense one and I really wanted to know what was going to happen to Josh. there is a twist at the end which is quite clever and i didn't see coming but others might.

This I found to be well written and quite a clever story in the end. i felt the middle bit dragged a bit for me but that might be a personal thing.

[Manu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joshua King's father dies of a viagra overdose and in his will, states that his son would inherit a fortune if he wrote a bestseller. Josh is of course, busy bumming around in India, clueless about what to do with his life, and doesn't particularly like being forced to have a purpose. But the money is tempting, and so Josh sets out on the job.

This premise ensures that the entire book/ parts of it can be seen in meta - though Josh is writing it in the first person, it might as well be completely his imagination at work. As Josh himself states, quite a few times, the book has it all - "drugs, diamonds, exotic locations, sexy girl, the plan that goes horribly wrong". Add to this some deceit, a few doses of how media makes stories and a sprinkling of philosophy, and you have a reasonably good read in your hands.

I'd say that Josh is tripping on life in general, and India in particular. In addition to the familiar stereotypes, there are also thinly veiled inspirations - Faizad Gerstad, the drug peddling film director, Dowdy Ibrahim - the mafia warlord, to name a few.

A roller coaster ride - from Bombay's party and 'Boom Shankar' circuit to its grimy street life and then via a roadtrip to the deserts of Rajasthan, its definitely fantastical, and though you can easily guess the end, it keeps your attention.

[Ana Valenzuela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witty, and good humored book. It felt like I was talking to a friend. There were times when I wanted to whack the book on Josh's head, you stupid idiot, you. Then, of course there will be times you will be cheering for him.

I knew there was something with Yasmin when Shirva said something about the Interpol and the police. At first, I thought she was actually the good guy, hahahah! Oops! Kept waiting for that, but hey the girl did love Josh, and did manage to get away. Sneaky!

This book was recommended and lent to me by a friend who had a week before leaving the country. So, of course, I was in a lot of pressure to finish and finish fast. I wouldn't want to bother you with all the excuses, but I think this is proof that this book is great enough to finish and not to be shelved in the DNF. :)

[DC · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gutsy, sexy, India-based novel about a pretty ordinary guy who got himself into some extraordinary mess.

A pretty good read, although it has some what I would call "slow points". Every so often, the persona (Joshua King, the bohemian who needs to write a novel in order to get his inheritance) would stop narrating his story, and delve into his emotions. We would actually get to see his inner turmoil; the thoughts that run through his head as he tries in vain to decide what to do next.

The plot has a few twists and turns, and honestly gave me the surprise here and there. It's an interesting read for me, all right; a pretty good book to pass the time.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

C got this for me for our anniversary, and it's reviewed as being along the lines of Alex Garland's work (Beach, Tesseract), and it was, but different (thankfully of course!). It was quite good. It was a page turner for sure, with great, believable characters that I'm still thinking about as if I had met them.

[Ashley Sasnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great start but it slow going now. Lots of setting and detail which is great; you really get caught up the in the sights and sounds of India. I did my own traveling in lieu of "real life" whilst in my 20's and I know this character very, very well.
BUT with that said, this book is getting a bit boring.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the concept of this book, with a writer setting out on a budget to find a story that will lead to his first novel. Through all the plot twists in turns, Rhodes keeps you interested in the story of a struggling writer on his own in India. Funny, this is one of the few books I've read about the journey East that doesn't deal solely in the spiritual elements.

[Angie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Flat characters I felt nothing for, disgusting romanticizing of India, a plot that took forever to come around to climax (and then, could have been ironed out a bit more)... don't waste your time. Take the narrator's advice:

"I really should read some better-quality literature. It might improve me."

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actually started this book a few years ago, set it aside and just finished it. I set it aside because it was too rambling and generally seemed very forced. The positives are that it does somewhat define a generation, as was its intent, but that generation is in some ways so sad that it is just a "paperback novel" leading to a generation of "reality tv".

[Froukje · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mooi geschreven boek over een man die door India reist op zoek naar een verhaal om een bestseller over te schrijven zodat hij veel geld uit een testament krijgt.
Leest lekker weg, ook fijn om op vakantie te lezen!

[Jonny Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book as it is easy to read and mildly exciting in places. However, the plot is loose and meanders a little and I felt a bit non-plussed at the end; not sure what the point was. Not on the priority list to read.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a huge surprise for me. The main character is, at the same time, incredibly despicable and incredibly likeable. I definetaly reccomend "Paperback Raita" for anyone who's looking for something strong and uneven. Just be prepared for a disturbing narrative.

[Shannon]

I started reading this but got bored. Can someone elaborate on their rating?

[Kris]

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK!

[Sharon]

Don't know exactly what this is. Saw it on twitterlit.

[Saliotthomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

why bother?go back to journalisme or dad

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written by my step-brother so I can recommend it to everyone! Actually it is a fun read, unless you have an issue with drugs etc.

[Jennifer]

Another one I started and got a few chapters into...